Infertility is “the inability to conceive after 12 months of unprotected intercourse.” If you’ve tried to get pregnant on your own with no results, it may be time to evaluate your fertility risk factors and seek targeted treatment options that can reverse female infertility.
An infertility evaluation is usually initiated after one year of regular unprotected intercourse in women under age of 35 years and after six months of unprotected intercourse in women aged 35 years and older. The female reproductive organs function within a beautifully complex system. Unfortunately, a lot can go wrong. Ageing alone impacts fertility, especially after age 35. However, the evaluation may be initiated sooner in women with irregular menstrual cycles or known risk factors for infertility, such as endometriosis, a history of pelvic inflammatory disease, or reproductive tract malformations.
There are several tests to assess a woman’s fertility. Each woman is different, and hence the tests won’t be similar for all. The doctors will work with each patient to determine which tests should be done for her evaluation. However, some basic tests will almost always be a part of the evaluation. Multiple tests have been proposed for the evaluation of female infertility.
To start, each patient will provide a medical history as well as information about past pregnancy attempts and fertility treatments. The doctors will also perform a physical exam to assess the patient’s overall health. To access a woman’s ovarian reserve, the blood tests required are
1. AMH – Anti-Mullerian hormone
2. FSH- Follicle Stimulating Hormone
3. TSH- Prolactin and thyroid-stimulating hormone.
Sometimes, a patient will need a more detailed analysis of her ovarian reserve. Then, Ovarian Assessment Report can be recommended. This test combines information about a woman’s age and hormone levels to produce an Egg Retrieval Score (ERS). This score can help predict the number of eggs that our doctors can retrieve as part of a patient’s IVF cycle.
Two other common parts of the female fertility evaluation include transvaginal ultrasound and a hysterosalpingogram (HSG). The ultrasound allows our doctors to assess the health of a patient’s ovaries and determine whether her uterus has any abnormalities. As for the HSG, it can help detect specific uterine issues and determine whether the fallopian tubes are open.
Ovulation Dysfunction
To become pregnant, the female partner needs to release a viable egg during ovulation. When this doesn’t occur, it can be attributed to female infertility due to ovulation dysfunction. If an egg is released only sporadically or not at all, as is the case with the polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), your hopes of getting pregnant fade away.
Uterine Causes of Female Infertility
Anatomical barriers to pregnancy include endometriosis, fibroids, pelvic adhesions, or cysts.
Tubal Causes of Female Infertility
The gateway to pregnancy, fallopian tubes that are blocked, damaged, or inflamed, can prevent sperm from reaching the egg or a fertilized egg from entering the uterus.
Other Causes of Female Infertility
In addition to ovulation dysfunction, uterine and tubal causes of female infertility, women may suffer from recurrent miscarriage, secondary infertility (the inability to conceive and deliver a child following the birth of one), and unexplained infertility.
These issues can be corrected with IVF, IUI, or minimally invasive laparoscopic and hysteroscopic surgeries or laparotomy fertility surgery.
Exploring other tests that can make up the female fertility evaluation
Depending on a patient’s unique needs, the doctors may also recommend one or more of the following fertility tests for women.
A Sonohysterogram is like an HSG, as it is a nonsurgical method for detecting potential abnormalities in a woman’s uterus.
If a woman has had multiple miscarriages or failed IVF cycles, then she may be recommended endometrial receptivity testing. The results can help our doctors determine when a woman’s uterine lining is ready for embryo implantation.
Some abnormalities, such as endometriosis, uterine defects, and fallopian tube damage, may require a surgical infertility evaluation. Common surgical evaluations include laparoscopy and hysteroscopy. These minimally invasive outpatient procedures allow our surgeons to use a small telescope to view the patient’s reproductive and pelvic organs.
Female Infertility Evaluation is the First Step to Success in any journey. At Aaradhya, we specialize in finding the causes of female infertility and initiating an effective treatment plan. Contact us at 8886592229 for more information.
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